Introducing Peter the Great!

Over the last two decades the group has entertained thousands and given voice to countless young actors.
The shows have been magnificent, technicolour, imaginative extravaganzas with the emphasis on audience engagement. The performances have been opportunities for BYT members to show off the depth of talent in the group as every aspect of the production from writing to performing is brought to bear in the show.

This year's panto, Peter Panto, was written by four BYT members, Aileen Gordon (playing Tinkerbell), Eliza Pearman Howard (Captain Hook), Matylda Wijas (Shadow) and Setanta Flood.

Director Paul Higgins explained: “BYT joined with the senior group Backstage Theatre Group (BTG) in 2003 when we performed Aladdin. I had the honour of playing Widow Twankey. Over the next few years BYT became more and more involved and in 2011 the panto was 100% BYT. Our first solo panto, The Wizard of Longford, was written by BYT leader Brendan Williams. Since then all the BYT pantos have been written by Brendan or the members of the group.”

The aforementioned Brendan spoke of how the pesky youths took over: “The year was 2013 and BYT had just finished their third original panto and were about to embark on their fourth, when I, the writer, became ill. Paul asked Eimear Carberry, then a BYT member, to start writing a script in the hope that I would be back on my feet fairly quickly. I wasn’t!
“Eimear enlisted the help of two other members, Nicole Kirwan and Rory Williams-Doyle and the ‘Orcs’ were born. Under a lot of pressure, these three were able to get a script finished in time, with the minimum of help from me. That script was ‘Happily Ever After’ and was performed in January 2014,” he recalled.

Group Chair, Joanna Pearman, spoke of the vital role the panto has played in the development of acting talent in Longford: “Pantomime is such a fun family experience; it's a perfect introduction to visiting the theatre for children and families. Seeing local faces they know, up on the stage and being able to actively engage with plenty of audience participation – and watch out for the water guns!”

Script writer Aileen Gordon loved the process: “Writing Peter Panto has been a remarkable experience and was a great way to develop our writing skills. It allowed us to explore new genres of writing. It's so exciting to see our ideas amalgamated into the script.”

Matylda Wijas agreed: “This was a new experience for us, but the writing came naturally. It's great seeing the progress we made throughout the process.”

For actor Róisín Duke, who plays Smee, this is a great opportunity: “I joined BYT earlier in the year. Since then, I have participated in many workshops and the experience has been so amazing. I’ve loved it so much. We are all currently rehearsing very hard for Peter Panto.”

Peter Panto runs on Friday, December 20, and Friday, December 27 Jan at 7pm and on Saturday, December 21 and Sunday, December 22, and Saturday, December 28 at 3pm.